Pub pokie players given cash, free grog to gamble, claims former employee

Authorities are investigating claims chronic poker machine addicts are being given cash handouts of up to $1050 per week to keep them hooked.

Claims chronic poker machine addicts were given cash handouts of up to $1050 a week to keep them hooked are being investigated by authorities.

A former employee of the Bank Tavern at Kogarah and two hardcore pokie players claim the pub’s owners, Marlow Hotel Group, targeted ­addicts to keep them going back to the same pubs.

The trio allege big spenders at the Bank Tavern, Intersection Hotel and Royal Hotel Carlton were given $150 credit per day via a secretive “rewards” card which could be used in $50 amounts at each of the three venues.

But the head of the company, Jason Marlow, said “the loyalty program is not in existence – it was abandoned more than three years ago in 2019”.

The former employee and the two pokie players say about 15-20 gamblers at each venue could allegedly get the $50 out in cash or use it to buy food or cigarettes.

Marlow Hotel Group boss Jason Marlow.

The three say they could also use it to buy alcohol, however two former customers said they got drinks for free anyway.

One of the patrons, a married father with kids who said he has lost $1 million to the pokies in the past decade, said the cards were “appalling”.

“Everyone knew about it but it was obviously very hush-hush,” he said.

“You could spend $50 at the Bank Tavern and then you could go to the Royal Hotel Carlton or the Intersection and get another $50 credit on that card.

“That card meant I gambled more.”

Another former customer said the daily cash handouts would “not compare to how much money we put through the machines”.

“I used to go to those pubs because of the cards,” the second customer said.

“We would be blind drunk and lose thousands of dollars. I lost $600,000 over four years between 2015 and 2020, mostly at those pubs.

“I rang the pub up and told them that I was self-excluding. But they would still let me into the Carlton pub.

“Pokies are just hypnotic. I can’t look at them anymore. They put me in a daze. When you are in those venues you are trapped.”

A former employee said he felt uncomfortable with the practice when he was employed there.

“It was pretty upsetting when you would see these people walk out absolutely broken,” he said.

“You would see some people lose $10,000 in one session.

“A lot of the people who came in were big gamblers who were using the cards for food or cigarettes.

The card issued to gamblers.

“If they were having a two hour gambling session and the money ran out they were just given advances from the safe.”

The Sunday Telegraph has obtained one of the cards. With the permission of its former owner, it is being passed on to Liquor & Gaming NSW investigators.

The former employee said big gamblers were given a lot of free drinks and “that was just run off as wastage or promotion/miscellaneous on the books”.

“A woman came in who inherited a nice house on a corner block in Kogarah,” he said.

“It was probably worth more than $1 million. She sold the house and three years later she was broke because she gambled everything.”

One of the former punters approached The Sunday Telegraph after we revealed in February that the company RC One Pty Ltd – which runs Parramatta’s Rose and Crown Hotel – was fined $107,358 by ­Liquor & Gaming NSW.

Between 2017 and 2018, pub staff allowed at least $145,000 in credit and debit withdrawals from the Parramatta bar’s eftpos machine, loaned money from the safe to gamblers and provided free ­alcohol and cigarettes to keep gamblers happy.

That pub is owned by Marlow Hotel Group, which also runs the Bank, Intersection and Royal Carlton Hotels.

After being contacted by The Sunday Telegraph, a spokesman for Liquor & Gaming NSW said it “is reviewing this matter to determine if the rewards scheme breaches the Gaming Machines Act”.

A gambling rewards card was offered to patrons at three hotels. Picture: Tim Hunter.

“In some circumstances, venues can operate a rewards scheme whereby gaming machine players can gain points to be redeemed for promotional prizes valued at less than $1000,” he said.

“The prizes must not be cash or be able to be exchanged or redeemed for cash.”

The spokesman said venues are also prohibited from providing alcohol as an inducement to gamble or to gamble more frequently.

“Liquor & Gaming NSW regularly monitors venues’ rewards schemes to ensure they are lawful and do not increase risks of gambling-related harm,” the spokesman said.

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Originally published as Pub pokie players given cash, free grog to gamble, claims former employee